Members of the Glen Lake Garden Club attached roping and bows onto the Carl Oleson, Jr. Memorial Bridge at the Glen Lake Narrows the weekend before Thanksgiving. The garden club has decorated the bridge at the Narrows each year, except during bridge construction, for over 15 years. The approximately 80 club members fund the project, make the bows, customize the roping, and hang the greens in time to welcome everyone to the Glen Lake area for Thanksgiving.
Glen Arbor merchants hold their biggest sales of the season on Labor Day weekend, as the traditional tourism season winds down. Sales usually begin around 9 a.m. on Friday, August 29, and line the sidewalks of downtown Glen Arbor until Labor Day Monday. Be sure to visit each store for some deals inside, too. Enjoy checking out your favorite places and some new ones too.
What services are imperative for a small town like Glen Arbor? How about a grocery store, a hardware store, a gas station and an active Chamber of Commerce. Check three of four for Jeff and Georgia Gietzen, the Grand Rapids transplants who acquired Northwoods Hardware three years ago (and became sole owners in 2011), who have also become Chamber leaders, and this spring bought the gas station just north of town. Northwoods Filling Station now boasts vintage 1950s signage, sells gasoline and quick bites, and most importantly stays open 7 days a week, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. That’s a big improvement over having to drive to Empire or Maple City for petrol.
Glen Arbor will hold its annual Labor Day Bridge Walk over the Glen Lake Narrows Bridge on Monday, Sept. 5. Participants will begin at noon on the north side of the bridge (in front of On The Narrows Marina) and proceed to the south side, where an inexpensive lunch and after-party will unfold at McCahills Crossing (formerly the Dairy Bar).